Football Update: La Liga News- Messi Gives Barcelona A Victory At Real Zaragoza
Last year, when Barcelona visited Real Zaragoza, it was the young Argentinean who scored a hat-trick. This time, he was once again the inspiration behind Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over the opposition in their home ground.
Lionel Messi scored one goal in each half to cruise his side to an easy victory. However, apart from the Argentinean, there were problems for Barcelona all over the pitch. The match was started with Xavi missing due to an injury. Despite having a great outing
against FC Copenhagen, Javier Mascherano was put on the benches, while Seydou Keita started the match alongside Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets.
Messi, who also scored twice against Copenhagen, tried a long range shot in first fifteen minutes, but it was an easy one for the goal-keeper to push it over the bar. On the other side, Barcelona was having problems in the midfield. It was Sergio Busquets
who was unable to cope with the counter-attacks of Zaragoza. Also, the young Spaniard made a couple of errors while trying to clear the ball, which gave the opposition some chances to score a goal.
David Villa, who has not been scoring for Barcelona, tried his luck as well, but the opposition keeper did well to save his effort. Dani Alves also came close to scoring a goal, however, the Brazilian tried to be cheeky by lobbing the ball over the charging
goal-keeper. But, the full-back was not able to control the lob, which went wide of the target. Another chance came along, and this time it was Pedro’s turn to miss an easy goal.
Once again, Barcelona turned towards Messi to look for an inspiration. The Argentinean Messiah received a great ball from David Villa, and he made no mistake in beating Antonio Doblas in style. The goal came in the 42nd minute, just three minutes
before the end of first half.
The second half gave further boost to Barcelona, as Zaragoza’s defender, Leonardo Ponzio, was shown a red card for his rash challenge on Dani Alves. It thus became difficult for the home side to find an equaliser in the presence of only ten men for the entire
second half.
However, Zaragoza defended well for some time, as Barcelona tried to increase their lead. David Villa kept on trying to score a goal, but the luck was not there at all. Once again, Messi got an opening and he did not hesitate to score the second goal for
his team. Seydou Keita took a shot towards goal, but he was saved by Doblas. The rebound went towards Iniesta, who was not in a position to hit the ball cleanly; hence, the clearance went towards Messi. The Argentinean fired another shot on the left of diving
Doblas, who could do nothing but look towards his defenders in despair.
After the second goal, Barcelona was contented with keeping the possession for the most part. However, Villa kept on trying his luck, but to no avail. Once again, for a third time in two matches, Villa hit the side post, denying him a goal for his team.
The match ended with a 2-0 victory for the Catalans, who momentarily went on top of the table, two points above Real Madrid.
Once again, Guardiola faces a lot of problems even after this victory. First, no one was able to step up in search of a goal, and once again, Messi had to do it for his team. All other players, like Villa, Pedro and Alves had better opportunities, but they
failed to capitalize on those chances. Second, Xavi was missed throughout the game, as his presence is vital to Barcelona’s attacks. Although, the possession was dominated by the Catalans, but there was a real shortage of clinical through passes that can tear
any opposition down.
Nevertheless, the victory was much needed by Barcelona, who cannot afford to stumble in any further match. There are things to worry about, but Guardiola would definitely work on those problems. Copa del Ray also starts in next week, which is an opportunity
for Barcelona players to regain their goal-scoring form while playing against weaker opponents in the beginning.
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